Facing Life After Doom

Pine Street in downtown Boulder, Colorado is also known as “Church Row.” In a space of three or four block there are six churches. One of them, St. John’s Episcopal, is my wife’s and my church. A block to the west is the Pine Street Church, an American Baptist congregation. Now for those unfamiliar with the Baptist Church nationally, the larger, better known Southern Baptist denomination is quite conservative. The American Baptist denomination, or Northern Baptist Church, by contrast is liberal in the mode of mainstream Protestant churches like the United Church of Christ (Congregational). So, not surprisingly, last year (2024) the Pine Street Church started a program called The Common Good Forum. Its first offering in November 2024 was a weekend keynoted by the theologian Brian D. McLaren, whose opening talk was based on his just-released book, Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart (St. Martin’s Publishing Group). Given that Donald J. Trump was about to win his second Presidential term, that title seemed especially justified, and as I write on April 2, 2025 that assumption seems more and more the case.

McLaren begins his Introduction with a quotation from Woody Allen: “More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly” (p. 1) The author is somewhat more optimistic. Still, he concludes that doom is no longer optional. However, he adds, “There is life after doom, but to get there, first you have to face the doom…. None of the likely scenarios ahead of us are pleasant” (p. 22). He then posits four alternative futures, as follows:

Scenario 1, Collapse Avoidance: Enough people will wake up to the dangers of environmental change, individual and collective behaviors will change for the better, However., “because the needed transformation process will be long, difficult, and messy, we will face many turbulent decades or even centuries before we reach a new, sensible normal” (p. 27).

Scenario 2, Collapse/Rebirth: Some percentage of the global population who remain after a major decline will form new communities and, if they have gained enough wisdom from the collapse, “will begin a new chapter in the story of our species” (p. 27).

Scenario 3, Collapse/Survival: Much of the best aspects of our current civilization will be lost, with many of the worst elements remaining. The small bands of survivors will live under “far harsher environmental and cultural conditions” (p. 28).

Scenario 4, Collapse/Extinction: Here the remains of humankind will self-destruct, taking much of the land and sea with them (p. 28).

The rest of Life After Doom explores how we can work to achieve Scenario 1. I recommend that the readers of this blog get Dr. McLaren’s well-written and closely argued book, read it, and take it to heart. Achieving the best outcome for both our civilization and planet will doubtless depend on many people doing so.

The OY Scenario!